A Bradford waste management company has been fined £75,000 after a teenage employee was crushed to death by a lorry.

A judge at Bradford Crown Court today said Kristopher Dixon’s death had “devastated” his family.

As well as the fine, Associated Waste Management Limited (AWM) was ordered to pay £10,000 costs.

The company had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing at Bradford Magistrates’ Court to one charge of failing to ensure Mr Dixon’s safety at work.

Health and Safety Executive prosecutor Michael Elliker said Mr Dixon, 18, of Wibsey, was killed on April 12, 2007, at the AWM tip in Valley Road, Shipley, when a wagon ran him over.

Mr Elliker said Mr Dixon, a yard labourer, had his back to the reversing container truck when it clipped him, knocking him down.

Ivan Lee, the driver, then ran Mr Dixon over, not realising he was there.

Mr Elliker said the wagon’s reversing alarm had been removed and there was no-one designated to guide the lorry. He said alarms and CCTV cameras were now fitted to all the firm’s wagons.

John McCartney, for AWM, said the owner, John Brooksbank, was in court and felt personally very sad and remorseful.

The firm had pleaded guilty promptly, admitted liability and co-operated fully with the Health and Safety Executive.

Mr McCartney said the management still did not know why the alarm had been removed from the wagon.

AWM had a very high regard for health and safety and had no previous convictions for breaches, he said. The failings were speedily remedied and a £1.75 million safety review carried out.

Mr McCartney said company profits to October last year were £572,000.

The firm had 120 employees and Mr McCartney asked the judge, Recorder Paul Miller, to bear in mind the impact of a fine. He said the bank had refused the company further financial assistance at this time.

Recorder Miller said two failures had fatally aligned to create “a desperately dangerous situation”.

There was no reversing alarm on the lorry, for unexplained reasons, and no guide was deployed because pedestrians were not usually in that area.

“This young man’s death has had a very devastating effect on his family and their desolation will continue indefinitely,” the judge said.

After the case, Kristopher’s half brother, Darren Dixon, 37, said the family blamed the tragedy for the early death of Kristopher’s mother Julie Dixon who died of breast cancer in Bradford Royal Infirmary eight weeks to the day after her son was killed.

Mr Dixon said no fine could console the family and AWM had “put in a million pounds after the horse has bolted”.

“Money isn’t the issue. We just want to make sure it never happens again,” he said.